One Sleep
by tooOTPtofunction
Summary: Malec family fluff (:


I do not own The Mortal Instruments characters or the Shadowhunter world, that belongs to Cassandra Clare (:

This is just popped into my head and I thought it was cute (: Contains some spoilers for Born to Endless Night and A Long Conversation. Cute Malec family fluff (:

* * *

"One sleep alright? And then we'll be home. You'll be with Aunt Clary and Uncle Jace and Aunt Izzy and Uncle Simon. And all the new kids at the Institute! You won't have time to miss us." Alec tries to sound reassuring to his eldest son. Rafael however, seems intent on clutching Alec's worn out sweater in his tiny hands and bury his face in it.

He had been called to take care of an issue in the Florence Institute involving a standoff between Shadowhunters and Downworlders that no one seemed able to solve as of yet. Lily and Maia were also coming along as part of the alliance, hoping to take what they've been doing in New York and fix the issue. Magnus coincidentally had a client near by so he was coming as well, leaving Max and Rafael in their Aunts and Uncle's charge for the day and night. Max was looking forward to spending time with his extended family, Rafe was a different story. He had only been living with them for around half a year, he was still learning to trust that they still want him and that they love him.

Alec was worried that he thought they were leaving for good.

He had been trying to convince him all morning that he would be back tomorrow but Rafe was not willing to let Alec go. Alec was telling him repeatedly that they would only be gone for one night when Magnus came back into the room. He walked over to his fiancé and son and pried Rafe's hands from Alec's sweater to look at his face.

"Rafe, Daddy and I have to take care of some people that are being bad. You remember when Max was bad last week?" Magnus starts and Rafael nods. "We have to go make them play nice, maybe put them in time out if they don't listen." Magnus said with a smile. It at least got Rafe to smile a bit.

"You and Max are going to have so much fun with the other kids that you won't even realize we're gone." Magnus reassured his eldest with a soft smile. He looked at his watch-an anniversary present from Alec-"We have to get going soon." Magnus says to Alec before he goes back to gather his bags.

Alec looks back at Rafe and sees that he is still a little worried. He looks over at Max and sees his little blueberry rolling around with the new kids that were under Beatriz's charge playing with his train and making chugging noises. He looks at the kids playing and shakes his head slightly at the thought of all these kids being orphaned because of the Dark War, just like Rafael. These kids and Rafael were lucky, they were taken in by great people who wanted to look out for them. Alec tried not to think of all the kids are probably still out there so much, instead he just gets the word out to other countries main Institutes to look for them.

Alec crouches down to be level with Rafe and tells him, "Papa and I will be back tomorrow. I promise. Alright? Can you be good?" Rafe nods before stepping into Alec's personal space for a tight hug. Alec kisses his hair and his cheek multiple times before letting go.

"I know you're scared of being without us but you have so many people that love you here. And we'll be back before you know it." Alec tells his son when they separate.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alec sees Max hugging Magnus and then start to run over to him.

"Are you and Papa leaving now?" Max asks Alec.

"Yeah, we have to get there before anything bad happens." Alec responds, looking at his two boys. "You guys be good and we'll see you tomorrow okay? I love you." Alec says and both boys nod and give him a hug. "Go on and play." He says before he stands up and grabs his bag. He watches Rafael run over to give Magnus a hug goodbye before he is pulled by his little brother to go play.

Alec says goodbye to everyone and reaches Magnus just as Lilly and Maia are as well.

"Ready to go?" Maia asks the other three.

Alec looks back at Rafe and sees him smiling, a much better picture than him crying ten minutes ago. He looks up and smiles brightly at Alec, waving goodbye before going back to his game.

"Yeah." Alec said, "Let's go."


End file.
